SAN DIEGO, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced that the company has raised $50 million in a Series D financing to advance the company's pipeline of therapies targeting hormone-driven cancers, including ARN-509 for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). venBio led the financing with participation from existing Aragon investors Topspin Fund, Aisling Capital, OrbiMed Advisors and The Column Group. The financing brings the total capital raised in 2012 to $88M.

"This financing combined with our raise earlier this year provides Aragon with the resources to advance our pipeline, including ARN-509 for which we just recently announced promising Phase II results in prostate cancer patients," said Richard A. Heyman, Ph.D., President and CEO of Aragon Pharmaceuticals. "We are pleased to have the support of venBio's unique investment platform as well as the continued support of our existing investors. We look forward to advancing our clinical trials for both ARN-509 in prostate cancer and our selective estrogen receptor degrader for breast cancer as well as continuing to build our drug discovery programs."

In conjunction with the Series D financing, Robert Adelman, M.D., a Managing Partner of venBio, will join Aragon's board of directors. "ARN-509 is a unique, late stage asset with tremendous market potential, and one of many impressive compounds Aragon is developing," said Dr. Adelman. "We have been very impressed with Aragon's accomplishments to date, and we look forward to supporting the company's future endeavors."

About venBiovenBio is the world's largest independent, strategically oriented, life sciences investment firm. It was established with a vision of creating a new model for life sciences investing with the belief that integrating all life sciences stake-holders is critical to success. The firm's team of multidisciplinary global experts partner with biotechnology, life sciences and clinical trial corporate leaders to forge a new investment standard.

venBio manages private equity funds backed by leading life sciences companies and qualified financial investors. The firm's investment focus is on clinical stage private and public small cap companies with a therapeutic product, as well as medical technologies that enable better care for patients.

venBio's focus is to deliver financial, ethical and strategic returns. The intersection of all three in the Venn diagram is the biological center of the firm's universe, and the foundation of the firm's name and logo - venBio.

About Aragon PharmaceuticalsAragon Pharmaceuticals is focused on the development of 2nd generation anti-hormonal agents for hormone-driven cancers. The company's portfolio of small molecule therapeutics is based upon pioneering research identifying key molecular events that lead to drug resistance to traditional anti-hormonal therapies. This work has broad implications for the development of breakthrough medicines for prostate cancer and other hormone-dependent cancers such as breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer. Aragon Pharmaceutical's most advanced compound, ARN-509, is an androgen receptor antagonist that is currently being evaluated in a Phase II trial in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer. In addition, Aragon Pharmaceuticals has a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) for hormone-sensitive and hormone-resistant estrogen receptor positive breast cancer targeted to begin clinical trials in 2013. Aragon is a private company founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.aragonpharm.com.